Moving Mars Read Online Free PDF Page B

students.
    Can you get this off by yourself? the tallest of the three asked, gesturing at our skinseal. She removed her helmet beneath the dimmed lights of the hall, lips downturned, eyes miserable.
    What did he mean, delouse? another guard asked, a young, muscular male with West Indian features and accent.
    The guards were all fresh Martians. That made sense. The new United Mars state would be their sponsor, their BM and family.
    You cant just hold us here, I said. What happened to Gretyl? My four companions turned on the guards, pointing fingers and shouting. We all demanded our rights communication, freedom, advocates.
    It became an open rebellion until the third guard pulled a flechette from his pack. He was the shortest, a slim man with plain, short-cut brown hair and perfect, saintly features. His eyes narrowed, very cold. I thought, Heres a Statist sympathizer. The others were merely hired hands.
    Blow it down, right now, he demanded.
    You injured Gretyl! I shouted. We need to know what happened to her!
    Sabotage is treason. We could shoot you in self-defense.
    He raised the pistol. All of us backed away, including the two other guards.
    That wouldnt be smart, I said.
    Not for you. The slim fellow gave us a cold thin smile and pushed us down the hall.
    We entered a stripped-down double room, immediately sprawling on the bare cot and chairs, another small gesture of useless defiance.
    Youre going to be here for a while, so get comfortable.
    I didnt like him pushing his pistol and didnt want to provoke him any further. We peeled off our skinsealit was a blessed relief to be free of it, actually. The West Indian tossed the shreds into dust bags. Enough smear floated loose to make us sneeze.
    As if meeting for the first time, the five of us nodded and made introductions where necessary. We knew each other only slightly; one had been a classmate of mine, Felicia Overgard, about a year younger and two steps behind. I did not know Oliver Peskin well, a step higher and an agro major, and I had only met Tom Callin and Chao Ming Jung in the trench dome.
    The slim fellow averted his eyes. Bizarre, waving a gun at us but ashamed of our bare flesh. He thrust the gun at the vapor sacks in the washroom. I dont know if you have lice, but you smell pretty rank.
    The vapor bags hadnt been refilled or filtered in some time and we didnt smell much better after the showers. Water was inadequate to get rid of smear, and we carried itchy patches of red and orange all over. Wed have welts by tomorrow.
    Three hours passed and we learned nothing. The guards stayed in their suits to avoid the dust. They had removed any identifiers and would not tell us their names. The sympathizer grew more and more grim as the hours crawled, and then ramped up to nervous, fidgeting with his gun. He whistled and pantomimed breaking it down and reassembling it. Finally, his slate chimed and he answered.
    After a couple of brief acknowledgments, he sent the female guard out of the room. I wondered what they would do next, why they didnt want the woman there.
    Surely they werent that stupid.
    Conversation with my companions became thin and quiet. Fear had worn offwe no longer thought we were going to be shotbut the numbing sense of isolation that replaced it was no better. We settled into shivering silence.
    The rooms were kept at minimum heat and we still didnt have any clothes. The three men suffered worse than Felicia and I.
    Its cold in here, I said to the sympathizer. He agreed but did nothing.
    Its cold enough to make us sick, said Oliver.
    All right, said the sympathizer.
    We should find them some clothes, said the West Indian.
    No, said the sympathizer.
    Why not? Chao asked. Felicia had given up covering herself with her hands.
    You caused a hell of a lot of trouble. Why make it any easier on you?
    Theyre human, man, the West Indian said. He was not very old, twelve or thirteen, and he had to be a recent immigrant. His West Indies accent was still